No Result
View All Result
Sunday, June 1, 2025
MM News
اردو
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Showbiz
    Gen V Season 2

    Prime Video drops teaser trailer, confirms Gen V Season 2 premiere for September 17

    Arshad Warsi

    Arshad Warsi and wife face 5-year ban: Will he also disappear from films?

    Deepika Padukone

    In pictures: What are the shocking controversies in Deepika Padukone’s past?

    Hania Amir

    Yashma Gill proposes to Hania Aamir: Her hilarious reply goes viral

    Image: AP

    In Pictures: Thailand’s Opal Suchata Chuangsri crowned Miss World

    Gigi and Bella Hadid

    The Hadid sisters have a stepsister? Here’s what we know

  • Thought Box
  • Business
  • Opinions
  • Technology
  • The Other Side
MM News
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Showbiz
    Gen V Season 2

    Prime Video drops teaser trailer, confirms Gen V Season 2 premiere for September 17

    Arshad Warsi

    Arshad Warsi and wife face 5-year ban: Will he also disappear from films?

    Deepika Padukone

    In pictures: What are the shocking controversies in Deepika Padukone’s past?

    Hania Amir

    Yashma Gill proposes to Hania Aamir: Her hilarious reply goes viral

    Image: AP

    In Pictures: Thailand’s Opal Suchata Chuangsri crowned Miss World

    Gigi and Bella Hadid

    The Hadid sisters have a stepsister? Here’s what we know

  • Thought Box
  • Business
  • Opinions
  • Technology
  • The Other Side
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
MM News
اردو
  • Latest
  • Showbiz
  • Thought Box
  • Business & Stock
  • Opinions
  • Technology
  • The Other Side-Pakistan
Home Technology

NASA new space mission will take first peek at Sun’s poles

MM News Staff by MM News Staff
January 28, 2020

MIAMI: A new spacecraft is journeying to the Sun to snap the first pictures of the Sun’s north and south poles. Solar Orbiter, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and NASA, will launch from Cape Canaveral on February 7, 2020

Launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the spacecraft will use Venus’s and Earth’s gravity to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane — the swath of space, roughly aligned with the Sun’s equator, where all planets orbit. From there, the spacecraft’s bird’s eye view will give it the first-ever look at the Sun’s poles.

“Up until Solar Orbiter, all solar imaging instruments have been within the ecliptic plane or very close to it,” said Russell Howard, space scientist at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. and principal investigator for one of Solar Orbiter’s ten instruments. “Now, we’ll be able to look down on the Sun from above.”

As of right now we are tracking a NET February 5th launch of @ulalaunch‘s Atlas V carrying the joint @NASA and @esa Solar Orbiter. @ESASolarOrbiter#SolarOrbiter #AtlasV pic.twitter.com/horn3DbpGn

— Geoff Barrett ???? (@GeoffdBarrett) January 25, 2020

The Sun plays a central role in shaping space around us. Its massive magnetic field stretches far beyond Pluto, paving a superhighway for charged solar particles known as the solar wind. When bursts of solar wind hit Earth, they can spark space weather storms that interfere with our GPS and communications satellites — at their worst, they can even threaten astronauts.

“The poles are particularly important for us to be able to model more accurately,” said Holly Gilbert, NASA project scientist for the mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “For forecasting space weather events, we need a pretty accurate model of the global magnetic field of the Sun.”

What does it take to fly solo?

At its closest, #SolarOrbiter will come within about 42 million km of the Sun☀️

That’s closer than the scorched planet Mercury, just over quarter the average distance between the Sun and Earth, and closer than any European spacecraft in history pic.twitter.com/7hMJHUaMYR

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) January 24, 2020

The Sun’s poles may also explain centuries-old observations. In 1843, German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe discovered that the number of sunspots — dark blotches on the Sun’s surface marking strong magnetic fields — waxes and wanes in a repeating pattern.

Today, it is known as the approximately-11-year solar cycle in which the Sun transitions between solar maximum, when sunspots proliferate and the Sun is active and turbulent, and solar minimum, when they’re fewer and it’s calmer.

“But we don’t understand why it’s 11 years, or why some solar maximums are stronger than others,” Gilbert said. Observing the changing magnetic fields of the poles could offer an answer.

The only prior spacecraft to fly over the Sun’s poles was also a joint ESA/NASA venture. Launched in 1990, the Ulysses spacecraft made three passes around our star before it was decommissioned in 2009.

????Launch update: @NASA @ESA & @ULAlaunch confirm #SolarOrbiter launch date adjusted to 7 Feb 23:15 EST/ 8 Feb 04:15 GMT/05:15 CET due to rescheduling of the Wet Dress Rehearsal earlier this week.https://t.co/EKs4UjH1QW pic.twitter.com/NKJg1scE2R

— ESA’s Solar Orbiter (@ESASolarOrbiter) January 26, 2020

Ulysses never got closer than Earth-distance to the Sun, and only carried what’s known as in situ instruments — like the sense of touch, they measure the space environment immediately around the spacecraft.

Solar Orbiter, on the other hand, will pass inside the orbit of Mercury carrying four in situ instruments and six remote-sensing imagers, which see the Sun from afar. “We are going to be able to map what we ‘touch’ with the in situ instruments and what we ‘see’ with remote sensing,” said Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, NASA deputy project scientist for the mission. 

After years of technology development, it will be the closest any Sun-facing cameras have ever gotten to the Sun. “You can’t really get much closer than Solar Orbiter is going and still look at the Sun,” Müller said.

Over the mission’s seven year lifetime, Solar Orbiter will reach an inclination of 24 degrees above the Sun’s equator, increasing to 33 degrees with an additional three years of extended mission operations. At closest approach the spacecraft will pass within 26 million miles of the Sun.

At its closest to the Sun, @ESASolarOrbiter will get within about 42 million km, closer than Mercury and closer than any European spacecraft in history. So how do we get #SolarOrbiter into this unique orbit at the centre of the Solar System? ???? https://t.co/x1siNjLQbN pic.twitter.com/PoTH22HlHS

— ESA (@esa) January 24, 2020

To beat the heat, Solar Orbiter has a custom-designed titanium heat shield with a calcium phosphate coating that withstands temperatures over 900 degrees Fahrenheit — thirteen times the solar heating faced by spacecraft in Earth orbit.

Solar Orbiter will be NASA’s second major mission to the inner solar system in recent years, following on August 2018’s launch of Parker Solar Probe. Parker has completed four close solar passes and will fly within four million miles of the Sun at closest approach.

The two spacecraft will work together: As Parker samples solar particles up close, Solar Orbiter will capture imagery from farther away, contextualizing the observations. The two spacecraft will also occasionally align to measure the same magnetic field lines or streams of solar wind at different times.

“We are learning a lot with Parker, and adding Solar Orbiter to the equation will only bring even more knowledge,” said Nieves-Chinchilla.

Tags: esajourneynasapolesolar otbiterspacecraftsun
ShareTweetSendShare
Previous Post

Police arrests MNA Mohsin Dawar, 30 others in Islamabad

Next Post

Kidnap-for-ransom case: Five police officials arrested in Faisalabad

Related Stories

File photo
Technology

Pakistan Crypto Council to meet on June 2

May 30, 2025
NADRA logo
Technology

Pakistan to enforce single facial recognition system for biometric data

May 30, 2025
WhatsApp
Technology

WhatsApp status gets a major upgrade with three new features

May 30, 2025
representative image
Technology

Pakistan issues advisory following massive global data theft

May 26, 2025
File photo
Technology

Artificial Intelligence to be added into national curriculum: Rana Mashhood

May 24, 2025
File photo
Technology

OpenAI to launch world’s largest Data Center in UAE

May 23, 2025
Luke Hales/Getty Images
Prices

Trump threatens 25% tariff on iPhones manufactured outside the US

May 23, 2025
File photo
Technology

Cyber security threats: THESE two countries are least affected in the world

May 23, 2025
A small toy figure and representations of the virtual currency bitcoin stand on a motherboard in this picture illustration taken May 20, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Technology

What is Bitcoin mining?

May 23, 2025
File photo
Business & Stock

Bitcoin reaches new all-time high of $111,000

May 22, 2025
Next Post

Kidnap-for-ransom case: Five police officials arrested in Faisalabad

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending Stories

Business & Stock

Tax cuts for salaried class likely after IMF approval

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025
(Representational Image)
Bakra Eid 2025

Makeshift mechanical rides banned in Punjab during Eid holidays

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025
Gen V Season 2
Amazon Prime

Prime Video drops teaser trailer, confirms Gen V Season 2 premiere for September 17

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025
Sybil Sohail with her gold medal at the Asian Weightlifting Masters Championship in Doha on May 30. Photo Courtesy: TWINKLE SOHAIL
Sports

Sybil Sohail wins gold at Asian Weightlifting Championship

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025
Weather

Karachi sizzles at 39 degree Celsius

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025

Opinion

munir ahmed oped
AIF 2025 – A Rallying Cry for Unity in a Fractured World
May 31, 2025
- Munir Ahmed
munir-ahmed-oped-2-1140x1140
Eurasian Economic Union at 10: Looking Beyond the Decade
May 29, 2025
- Munir Ahmed
munir-ahmed-oped-2-1140x1140
Crimea at the Crossroads: Development, Identity, and Geopolitics
May 29, 2025
- Munir Ahmed
No posts found
See all

Weather Updates

Weather

Karachi sizzles at 39 degree Celsius

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025

Temperatures in Karachi reached 39 degrees Celsius on Sunday as the southern port city...

Glaciers in Pakistan

Pakistan develops policy framework to protect glaciers, combat climate change

June 1, 2025
file photo

Weather updates for Islamabad, other parts of Pakistan

June 1, 2025
Heatwave

Karachi braces for more heat as temperature remains high

May 31, 2025
See all

Prices

representative image
Business & Stock

Gold prices in Pakistan today- Sunday, June 1, 2025

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025

The following are the current gold prices in Pakistan on Sunday, June 1, 2025....

File photo

Petrol price hiked by Re1 per litre in Pakistan

May 31, 2025
LGP prices have been slashed ahead of Ramadan. File photo

LPG prices announced for June 2025

May 31, 2025
representative image

Gold prices further drop in Pakistan

May 31, 2025
See all

Transport News

file photo
Transport

Govt doubles public transport fares in Islamabad

by MM News Staff
June 1, 2025

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has introduced a revised fare structure for the city's...

representative image

Everything you need to know about Lahore’s Yellow Line E-Train Project

June 1, 2025
Pakistan Express

Train derailment: Pakistan Express heading to Rawalpindi suffers major accident

June 1, 2025
(Image: Dawn)

Karachi residents protest load-shedding; National Highway blocked

May 31, 2025
See all

MM Digital (Pvt.) Ltd.

MM News is a subsidiary of the MM Group of Companies. It was established in 2019 with the aim of providing people of Pakistan access to unbiased information. Contact Details: 03200201537

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Advertise
  • MM News Urdu
  • The Other Side-Pakistan
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

Top Pages

  • Latest News
  • Showbiz
  • OP-ED
  • Technology
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest News
  • Showbiz
  • Thought Box
  • Business
  • Opinions
  • Technology

© Copyright 2024 MMNews - All Rights Reserved.